Picture the Present

A virtual archive of the contemporary

As part of our work on the contemporary, we are setting up a ‘Virtual Archive of the Contemporary’, a digital archive capturing what ‘the present’ is to people all over the world, right now. Our aim is to map out different conceptions of ‘the contemporary’ from the general public.

We are asking individuals from all backgrounds to submit an image (using a mobile phone or digital camera) which they feel represents ‘the present’ from their perspective. Each image will be tagged with the age, gender and location of the sender, allowing us to create a searchable database by demographic. A short caption may accompany the image if the sender so chooses.

We are currently working on a dedicated website where the images can be uploaded, stored and displayed.

Quick guide to submitting:

Remember to give your age, gender and location. You can add a short caption to your image (max. 140 characters) which will allow us to add keywords to your image.

Once the official project website is up and running, images will be displayed in a searchable database along with the age, gender and location of the sender and any caption or keywords they have added. Check back here for updates on the new website. We may also share some of the best submissions on social media.

For copyright reasons, please submit only your own images. Any images containing offensive or (gratuitously) graphic material will not be added to the website.

There is no maximum number of submissions per person.

Example submissions

If you need some inspiration, here are some of the submissions we have already received: